Chapter 475: Perfection
Chapter 475: Perfection
Lu Chengyun never expected that after just a few glances, Mo Hua would not only memorize the Spirit Pivot Array but also recreate it.
Twelve lines of the first-grade array, the Lingyin Sect's ultimate formation passed down from the Great Lingyin Sect over a millennium ago—the Spirit Pivot Array!
Mo Hua was overjoyed and immediately began to contemplate it without delay.
The Corpse Mine was not a place to linger.
He had to master the Spirit Pivot Array as soon as possible so that he could find a way to escape sooner rather than later.
There was also Lu Chengyun and the Lu family to deal with.
Once he mastered the Spirit Pivot Array, he could turn his attention to dealing with Lu Chengyun and his clan.
No matter what schemes Lu Chengyun had up his sleeve, he must not be allowed to succeed.
The Lu family had been oppressing others for so many years, and it was time they got their comeuppance.
The Myriad Corpse Array had to be destroyed, the Ancestor's Portrait seized, and the Corpse Mine, along with the iron corpses and walking corpses within, eradicated, or they would surely leave endless troubles.
And the key to all of this was the Spirit Pivot Array.
With his mind made up, Mo Hua began to focus on studying the array.
His progress in learning the Spirit Pivot Array was swift.
Previously, Mo Hua had already obtained a portion of the Spirit Pivot Array diagram from the walking and iron corpses, and he had more or less comprehended its basics.
Having grasped the principles of the array, he had also experimented with its usage on Little Tiger.
Now that he had the complete diagram, he only needed to fill in the gaps and further deepen his understanding of the array.
Mo Hua spent some time memorizing the array lines and then practiced drawing the array on paper several times.
At midnight, he went to sleep, sinking his spiritual sense into his sea of consciousness and continuing to practice on the Dao stele.
The next day, he feigned an overly exhausted spiritual sense, a pale face, and an unwell body, avoiding going to draw the array eye of the Myriad Corpse Array.
Instead, he hid in his room, secretly practicing the Spirit Pivot Array whenever Lu Chengyun was not paying attention.
It was only on the third day that he pretended to have recovered and went to the Myriad Corpse Array, squatting among a group of coffins to draw the array eye.
After finishing the drawing, he returned at night and continued to practice the Spirit Pivot Array.
However, several days later, Mo Hua realized something was amiss.
It seemed like someone had tampered with this Spirit Pivot Array diagram...
On the surface, the array appeared to be complete.
The supreme authority of the Spirit Pivot Master Array controlled the secondary authority of the Spirit Pivot Sub-array, which in turn governed the even lower-level Spirit Pivot Base Array.
But Mo Hua discovered that the Spirit Pivot Master Array had some missing lines.
It was as if someone had deliberately left a "backdoor."
Those few lines were left in the hands of others.
As long as those lines were not completed, there would always be a backdoor in the master array.
It would not truly be a master array but merely a sub-array of a lower level.
Others could then use this "backdoor" to bypass Mo Hua's Spirit Pivot Master Array and take control of all the sub-arrays and base arrays he had drawn.
In that case, the Spirit Pivot Array that Mo Hua had painstakingly set up might very well become a "wedding dress" for others to take credit for.
"Reaping the benefits of my hard work!"
"How insidious..."
Mo Hua shook his head.
This backup plan was undoubtedly left by Lu Chengyun.
However, it was likely that he didn't leave this backup plan solely to guard against himself.
Instead, it was probably meant to guard against anyone who saw the Spirit Pivot Array diagram, learned the Spirit Pivot Array technique, and attempted to construct a hierarchy of authority using the array.
Whether it was refining corpses, refining artifacts, or even refining puppets and cultivating tools, as long as they used his Spirit Pivot Array, they would eventually be "usurped" by Lu Chengyun.
After all, Lu Chengyun possessed the highest-authority Spirit Pivot Master Array.
"It's a good thing I noticed this, or I would have fallen right into Lu Chengyun's trap..."
Mo Hua was a little apprehensive but also puzzled.
What exactly were the missing lines?
Where could Lu Chengyun be hiding them?
Mo Hua racked his brains but couldn't come up with any clues.
As the head of the Lu family, Lu Chengyun had countless places to hide a few lines of the array within the vast Corpse Mine.
"Should I tail him while staying invisible?"
Mo Hua thought about it but shook his head again.
With his current level of spiritual sense and stealth, tailing Lu Chengyun was still a bit of a stretch.
It might be manageable for a regular Qi Refinement cultivator, though.
Since Lu Chengyun was an array master himself, a suspicious person by nature, and skilled in sinister arrays, attempting to secretly follow him would undoubtedly arouse his suspicion.
He would deal with this matter once his spiritual sense became stronger.
"But what should I do now?"
With the Spirit Pivot Array right before him, he couldn't just ignore it, could he?
However, once he learned it and put it into practice, it would be as if he was working for Lu Chengyun, which would be a huge loss.
Even if he wanted to find those lines, it wouldn't be easy.
Who knew where Lu Chengyun had hidden those few lines of the array?
Mo Hua stroked his chin and suddenly remembered, "The bronze coffin!"
Lu Chengyun wouldn't leave a backup plan against himself, would he?
The Spirit Pivot Array he drew himself must be complete, with no loopholes.
The array he drew in the bronze coffin must be perfect!
Mo Hua's eyes lit up.
And so, the next day, as Lu Chengyun drew the array in the bronze coffin, Mo Hua quietly leaned in to take a look.
Zhang Quan noticed and gave Mo Hua a warning glance.
Mo Hua glared back defiantly and then turned his head to continue watching.
The Spirit Pivot Array drawn by Lu Chengyun was different from his own.
Lu Chengyun's array employed the techniques of sinister arrays, using bones as the brush, blood as the ink, and corpses as the array medium.
Moreover, the way he set up the array also differed.
Again and again, he dipped his brush in blood, painting the Spirit Pivot Array on the bronze coffin.
The bloodstains would gradually fade, and the array would gradually merge with the coffin.
Mo Hua wasn't quite sure what was going on, but fortunately, the inner array lines and principles were the same.
Mo Hua could still identify the inner lines of the Spirit Pivot Array.
A faint green light flickered in Lu Chengyun's eyes as he concentrated, unaware of Mo Hua's presence. Even when he occasionally glanced his way, he didn't seem to mind, asking with a smile that wasn't quite a smile, "What do you think, young master?"
Mo Hua frowned and shook his head, "It's too difficult. I can't understand it..."
Despite his confusion, he continued to watch.
This was typical of array masters—the more they didn't understand something, the more they wanted to figure it out, and the more perplexing it was, the more they wanted to unravel it...
Lu Chengyun understood this feeling, so he didn't find anything amiss.
Mo Hua's continued observation was only natural.
As he watched, he criticized in his mind, "This Lu Chengyun is drawing the array too slowly. I've been waiting for him for so long. If it were me, I would have finished drawing it already..."
"He made a mistake with that brushstroke, and he still hasn't noticed it..."
"Always with the bone brush, blood ink, and corpse medium... So particular..."
"So slow and dragging..."
...
Mo Hua grumbled in his mind for a long time. Finally, Lu Chengyun's wrist trembled, and his brushstrokes suddenly quickened, leaving behind several lines of the array.
Mo Hua looked perplexed on the surface, but his mind was clear as a mirror. With a slight movement of his spiritual sense, he committed these array lines to memory.
Just as Lu Chengyun put brush to paper, he subconsciously felt that something was amiss and turned his head. Seeing that Mo Hua's expression remained unchanged, he relaxed.
The missing array lines were now in his possession.
After returning, Mo Hua used these lines to complete the Spirit Pivot Array, plugging the loophole that Lu Chengyun had left.
He spent several more days comprehending and fine-tuning the array, finally achieving complete mastery over the Spirit Pivot Array.
At the same time, his understanding of the Spirit Pivot Array deepened.
The principle of the Spirit Pivot Array was to clarify the structure of spiritual power and, through the array's hub, exert meticulous control over it.
The key to this control was the spiritual filaments.
By breaking down spiritual power into finer filaments, one could achieve more delicate manipulation.
At the same time, arrays of the same type would resonate with each other.
Just like in the Compass Mother-and-Child Array, the mother array and child arrays would respond to each other, and any spiritual power fluctuations sensed by the child arrays would be reflected in the mother array.
Arrays of the same type would resonate and connect with each other.
This connection was the control of spiritual power.
The master array controlled the sub-arrays, and the sub-arrays controlled the base arrays, allowing one to control a large number of walking corpses or puppets with a small amount of spiritual sense.
This type of array function was something Mo Hua had never encountered in the Five Elements Arrays.
"Perfection Arrays truly delve into the essence of spiritual power, seizing the creation of the heavens and earth..."
Mo Hua was astounded and marveled silently.
After learning it, he tested the complete Spirit Pivot Array on Little Tiger.
Mo Hua had a bunch of little tiger puppets on him.
These were made by Guai Lao and obtained by Mo Hua for the purpose of experimenting with the Spirit Pivot Array.
He picked out one that was slightly larger and called it "Big Tiger." Then, he drew the Spirit Pivot master array on Big Tiger.
He also drew the Spirit Pivot sub-arrays on another six or seven smaller tigers.
Mo Hua controlled the Spirit Pivot master array with his spiritual sense, manipulating Big Tiger through the array.
Then, using the Spirit Pivot master array as a reference, he radiated his influence to the sub-arrays on the smaller tigers, controlling them.
All levels of the Spirit Pivot Array were displayed in Mo Hua's sea of consciousness.
With a slight movement of his spiritual sense, Big Tiger started running clumsily on the table.
At the same time, the array on its body transformed the spiritual power into filaments, activating the other sub-arrays and causing the other little tigers to run as well.
The seven or eight tiger puppets came to life, chasing each other on the table in a lively scene.
Moreover, the amount of spiritual sense consumed to control these puppets was not much.
This was just controlling small puppets. If he were to control corpses and exert tiered control, he might truly be able to dominate thousands of walking corpses with his spiritual sense alone.
A one-man army.
That would be truly terrifying.
Mo Hua clicked his tongue in admiration.
After some thought, Mo Hua sank his spiritual sense back into his sea of consciousness.
He wanted to see if there were any changes in the spiritual power manifested by his spiritual sense.
In his sea of consciousness, Mo Hua appeared and then closed his eyes, concentrating to manifest spiritual power.
After a moment, he found that the spiritual power he manifested was becoming finer and finer, eventually taking on the form of "spiritual filaments," resembling pale blue silk threads or entangled lotus threads.
Spiritual power had been transformed into filaments!
Just like the spiritual power filaments in the Spirit Pivot Array after being refined.
"This is what Master meant when he said that the deeper the comprehension, the truer the manifestation."
With a slight movement of his spiritual sense, Mo Hua effortlessly caused these filaments to flow and move according to his will.
Mo Hua pointed with two fingers, and in an instant, a fireball spell condensed at his fingertips.
This time, the fireball spell had a silky appearance within the fiery light.
It looked like a big clump of tangled scarlet cotton.
However, this "cotton" was formed by the accumulation, entanglement, and compression of fiery filaments.
The spiritual power was surging yet orderly.
Mo Hua was stunned.
The fireball spell he manifested in reality and the one in his sea of consciousness seemed like two completely different spells.
The fireball spell in reality was dark red, with compressed spiritual power, exhibiting considerable might and faint signs of substance.
In contrast, the fireball spell in his sea of consciousness was still scarlet, but the spiritual power had been further refined into filaments, appearing to have stronger differentiation.
For a moment, Mo Hua wasn't sure if this was a good or bad development.
Which one was more powerful?
Should he try to make the fireball spell in reality resemble the one manifested in his sea of consciousness?
Or should he try to manifest the more realistic fireball spell in his sea of consciousness? Mo Hua wasn't sure which path to take.
"I'll ask Guai Lao about it when I get out..."
In addition to the fireball spell, Mo Hua's Water Prison Steps had also become more exquisite.
The Water Prison Steps relied on spiritual sense to control spiritual power.
The stronger the spiritual sense control, the more profound the steps.
The Water Prison Spell manifested in his sea of consciousness was faster and had stronger binding properties.
Previously, it was a spiritual power lock, but now it had been transformed into spiritual power filaments and then back into a lock, capable of entangling and restraining enemies tightly.
Most importantly, his array manipulation had improved.
Mo Hua tried it out.
With a slight movement of his spiritual sense, the speed at which he drew arrays on the ground doubled.
In just a few breaths, Mo Hua stood still and, relying solely on his spiritual sense, manifested a first-grade nine-line array.
Mo Hua devised a combination of moves for himself: He could first use the Water Prison Spell to immobilize his enemy, and then, in just a few breaths, manifest control arrays such as the Golden Lock Array, Overflow Array, Wood Prison Array, and Quicksand Array to restrain the enemy.
Once the enemy was locked down, they would become a sitting duck.
He could then use the fireball spell to blast them.
He could also use the Earthfire Array to bombard them.
Alternatively, he could use the Melting Fire Array to refine them.
This set of moves was seamless in terms of control and could be adapted to suit the enemy, offering a variety of changes.
As long as the enemy was at the Qi Refining stage with a spiritual sense of no more than twelve lines, they would be left at death's door, if not annihilated in body and soul, after receiving this combination of attacks.
Mo Hua nodded in satisfaction.
With his sea of consciousness as a prison and his spiritual sense as a weapon, he could both trap and kill.
The version of himself in the sea of consciousness was far stronger than his physical self.
Mo Hua hummed lightly, "I'll kill anyone who dares to intrude into my sea of consciousness from now on! One by one, I'll slaughter them all!"
However, the surroundings of his sea of consciousness were currently empty, devoid of any evil spirits or ghostly beings.
Mo Hua felt a bit like a hero without a stage to showcase his talents.
Mo Hua's fingers itched, and his eyes shifted as he thought:
"I need to find something to test my skills on..."
(End of Chapter)
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